The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer Part 11

"Mr Dyer," interrupted George crisply, "let our cable be buoyed, ready for slipping, and call all hands, if you please, to fighting stations.

Also, let the sail-trimmers be sent aloft to loose the canvas. We will get under way at once. It is too dark for me to see anything just now, coming directly from the lighted cabin, but I'll take your word for it that things are as you say. Evidently, there is treachery afoot again, somewhere; and it will never do to allow any of those plate s.h.i.+ps to escape. Rather than permit that to happen, I'll sink them!"

Thereupon there ensued on board the _Nonsuch_ a brief period of intense but almost silent activity, during which the severely strict discipline which Saint Leger had imposed upon his crew amply justified itself, for every man exactly knew his station and the duty which the exigencies of the moment demanded of him, and did it without the need of a single superfluous order. A few cries there were, of course, demanding that this or that rope should be let go, or intimating that such and such a sail was ready for setting, for the darkness was so intense that it was impossible to see exactly everything that was happening even aboard their own s.h.i.+p, nor was the work executed with quite that automatic precision and astonis.h.i.+ng speed that is characteristic of the Navy of the present day, yet the work went forward so smoothly and rapidly that within ten minutes of the delivery of George's first order the _Nonsuch_ was under way and turning to windward in pursuit of the plate s.h.i.+ps that were c.u.mbrously attempting to effect their escape from the harbour.

Within the next five minutes it became evident that the Spanish sailors were no match for the English, nor the Spanish s.h.i.+ps for the _Nonsuch_; for although the former had secured a pretty good start of the latter, they had slipped their cables with only just enough canvas set to give them steerage way and enable them to avoid colliding with other s.h.i.+ps, slowly increasing their spread of canvas as they went, whereas the _Nonsuch_ hung on to her anchor until practically the whole of her working canvas was set, wherefore no sooner had the ponderous hempen cable gone smoking out through her hawse pipe than she came under command, when her extraordinary speed at once told, and she began to rapidly overhaul the s.h.i.+ps of which she was in chase. But it was nervous work threading her way out of that crowded anchorage in the intense darkness, for there were fully fifty sail in the port, apart from the plate s.h.i.+ps, and for some unknown reason--but probably in accordance with orders received--not one was showing a light, consequently there were several occasions when a collision was avoided only by the remarkable working qualities of the s.h.i.+p herself and the instantaneous response of the mariners to the orders issued from time to time from the quarter-deck.

To avoid collision with a craft lying pa.s.sively at anchor was, under the circ.u.mstances, quite sufficiently difficult, but it was infinitely worse when it came to steering clear of the plate s.h.i.+ps beating out of the harbour; and indeed something more than a mere suspicion soon took possession of the minds of the English that a deliberate attempt was being made by the Spaniards to either run them down or disable them, for whenever, in the course of manoeuvring, they drew near a Spanish s.h.i.+p, the latter seemed to alter her course and come blundering headlong at them, when, if a collision had chanced to have occurred, the English s.h.i.+p must of necessity have been the greatest sufferer, because of her inferior size. But here again the nimbleness of the _Nonsuch_ and the activity of her crew sufficed to avert disaster, and s.h.i.+p after s.h.i.+p was overtaken and pa.s.sed in deadly, ominous silence, for it was George's intention to make no demonstration until he had overtaken and weathered the leading s.h.i.+p, when he was determined to administer such a lesson as should not be readily forgotten.

And at length the fateful moment arrived, about half an hour after the _Nonsuch_ had slipped her cable and slid away from her anchorage. She had overtaken and pa.s.sed every s.h.i.+p but one, and that one was now approaching her, the two s.h.i.+ps being on opposite tacks. It was difficult, just then, to determine which s.h.i.+p would weather the other; but as the distance between the two narrowed it presently became apparent that neither would weather the other, and that a collision was inevitable, unless one of the two gave way. George issued certain orders, and then walked forward, climbed the forecastle, that he might see the better, and intently fixed his gaze upon the approaching s.h.i.+p.

She was then about a point on the lee bow of the _Nonsuch_, and was steering such a course that, unless one or the other gave way, the stranger must certainly strike the English s.h.i.+p somewhere between her stem and foremast, probably bringing down the latter, most certainly carrying away the bowsprit, and in any case rendering the _Nonsuch_ unmanageable. On she came, a blot of deeper blackness upon the black background of the night, and it was clear to George that those on board her were deliberately manoeuvring to strike the English s.h.i.+p. But Saint Leger had already made his plans, and when presently the s.p.a.ce between the two craft had narrowed until only a few fathoms separated them, and still there was no sign of the Spanish s.h.i.+p giving way, the young man put a whistle to his lips and blew a shrill blast, whereupon the helm of the _Nonsuch_ was put hard up, and as she bore broad away the whole of her starboard broadside was poured into the approaching s.h.i.+p, within biscuit-toss, and the discharge was instantly followed by a dreadful outcry aboard her, mingled with the sound of rending timbers; and as the two s.h.i.+ps drove close past each other it was seen that her foremast had been shot away. Then, to the amazement of all on board the English s.h.i.+p, an order in Spanish was shouted, and the next instant a straggling but heavy musketry fire was opened upon the former from the decks of the latter, in the midst of which George hailed the Spaniard with:

"_Hola_! there. How dare you, senor, quit your anchorage without orders, and attempt to leave the harbour? Return at once, or I swear to you that I will sink you forthwith. If you are not round and heading for the anchorage by the time that I am again alongside you, I will give you another broadside. And--arrest the man, whoever he is, who issued the order to you to open fire upon us, for somebody will have to be punished for that outrage."

Whether or not the Spaniards were able to a.s.similate the whole of his instructions, George could not tell, for the two s.h.i.+ps were fast driving apart; but when at length the _Nonsuch_ was hove about and once more approached the Spaniard's weather quarter, with guns run out, a figure leaped up on the plate s.h.i.+p's taffrail, frantically waving a lighted lantern, and as he did so, he hailed:

"Do not fire upon us again, senor, for the love of G.o.d! We are busily engaged in clearing away the wreck of our foremast, and as soon as that is done and the s.h.i.+p is once more under command, I give you my word, upon the honour of a Spaniard, that we will return to the anchorage."

"The honour of a Spaniard!" retorted George, contemptuously. "How much is that worth, after the specimen of it which you have given me this night? However, you cannot possibly escape, so I will spare you for the present. Have you arrested the man who ordered your musketeers to fire upon us?"

"No, senor," was the answer. "Do you wish him to be put under arrest?"

"That was part of my order when I just now hailed you," retorted George.

"But," he continued, "possibly you did not hear me; wherefore I repeat the order now."

"It shall be done," replied the stranger. "And, senor," he continued, "although the evidence against us be strong, I beg you not to think that all Spaniards are liars and faithless. There are some--of whom I am one--who know how to keep faith as well as an Englishman; and I will keep faith with you."

"See that you do so, senor," retorted George, as the s.h.i.+ps again drew apart. "It will be better for you and those with you."

It was at this moment that the weather suddenly cleared, the clouds drove away to leeward, and the stars shone forth with that mellow l.u.s.tre and brilliancy which renders a starlit night in the tropics so inexpressibly beautiful; in an instant the intense darkness which had hitherto enveloped the scene was rolled away like a curtain, and objects which a moment before had been invisible were now seen with comparatively perfect distinctness, the several s.h.i.+ps which comprised the plate fleet--the whole of which were by this time under way--and even the wharves and houses of the town gleaming faintly and ghostly against the darker background of the country beyond and the blue-black of the star-spangled heavens. And now, too, lights suddenly began to appear in the two batteries which guarded the town. A few seconds later, as the _Nonsuch_ was steering to intercept and order back to her anchorage the second of the escaping plate s.h.i.+ps, first one and then the other of those same batteries opened fire, and that their ordnance was levelled against the English s.h.i.+p immediately afterward became apparent from the fact that several heavy shot came hurtling immediately overhead, one or two of which pa.s.sed through the _Nonsuch's_ canvas, but fortunately without inflicting any more serious damage.

"Spanish treachery again!" growled George to Ba.s.set, who was now standing on the p.o.o.p beside him. "It would appear that the scoundrels know not what keeping faith means. I felt fully convinced that by securing possession of a dozen of the most important citizens as hostages, we should effectually protect ourselves from all possibility of attack; but it is clear that there is somebody ash.o.r.e there who cares not what happens to the hostages, if he can only find a chance to strike at us a treacherous blow. Now, then, to deal with this rascal,"

indicating the approaching plate s.h.i.+p. "Severe measures are best in such cases as this, and if we deal with this fellow sharply, perhaps the others will take the hint, and return to the anchorage without waiting to be shot at. Starboard your helm, Mr Dyer"--to the pilot; "we will pa.s.s under this fellow's stern, shaving him as closely as may be and pouring a raking broadside into him as we pa.s.s; and if that does not make him bear up, we will follow him and give him another. Now, gunners of the starboard battery, stand by your ordnance, and discharge when we are square athwart this big s.h.i.+p's stern."

The two craft were by this time within hailing distance of each other, but perfect silence was maintained on board both until the _Nonsuch_, by hauling her wind to pa.s.s under the plate s.h.i.+p's stern, exposed practically the whole of her deck to those aboard the bigger s.h.i.+p, when an order suddenly rang out, and the whole of the Spaniard's bulwark instantly flashed into a hundred points of flame as a party of musketeers aboard her discharged their weapons at close range. At such an exceedingly short distance it was inevitable that a certain number of casualties should occur, and George, with rage in his heart, saw several figures collapse and fall upon the deck of his own s.h.i.+p, Dyer's among them, while a bullet rang sharply upon his own steel headpiece, causing him to stagger slightly.

"The villains!" he muttered savagely; "they shall pay dearly for this.

Hold your fire, men; do not discharge your ordnance until we are square athwart his stern. Then let him have it and rake him fore and aft!"

Some five seconds later, the starboard broadside of the _Nonsuch's_ ordnance, great and small, crashed out, one piece after another in rapid succession; and mingled with the roar of the guns there arose a dreadful chorus of shrieks and yells from the Spaniard's crowded decks. At the same instant the sh.o.r.e batteries renewed their fire, and so eager, apparently, were the artillerymen to destroy the English s.h.i.+p that they seemed to care little though their own countrymen shared her destruction, for at least half the shot fell on board the s.h.i.+p that had just sustained such a punis.h.i.+ng broadside from the English, which still further added to the confusion on board her. And when, a moment later, the _Nonsuch_ hove in stays, with the evident intention of repeating the dose with her larboard broadside, the mere threat proved quite enough, for the big craft hurriedly put up her helm and bore away again for the anchorage, with her scuppers streaming blood. The lesson seemed to have sufficed for the rest also; for, one after the other, as they saw the _Nonsuch_ heading toward them, they, too, bore up and headed back toward the anchorage, while the artillerymen manning the batteries plumped shot into them indiscriminately, apparently unable to distinguish between friend and foe, so that, as they ran in again, those who had hitherto escaped the broadsides of the Englishmen received a pretty severe castigation from their friends ash.o.r.e. At length, however, the whole fleet got back to the anchorage, well peppered on the one hand by their own batteries, and, on the other, receiving an occasional reminder from the _Nonsuch_, until they were all once more at anchor, when the Englishmen, as they pa.s.sed to their own sheltered berth, stood close insh.o.r.e and poured a couple of broadsides into the nearest battery, so well directed and with such deadly effect that it was effectually silenced, while, as for the other, she soon pa.s.sed beyond the range of its guns and dropped her anchor as near to the spot which she had previously occupied as could be determined by the elusive light of the stars.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

HOW THEY EMPTIED THE STRONG ROOMS OF THE TWELVE PLATE s.h.i.+PS.

The first thing done aboard the _Nonsuch_, as soon as she and the other s.h.i.+ps had come to an anchor, was to ascertain the amount of loss and damage attendant upon this fresh display of Spanish treachery, and this proved, upon examination, to be very much less than might reasonably have been expected. The most serious were the casualties resulting from musketry fire, but even these were by no means considerable, the loss amounting only to three killed and seven wounded--two of the latter, however, being reported by Chichester as serious cases. The s.h.i.+p herself had escaped damage in a manner that was little short of miraculous, a few shots through her canvas and two in her hull covering the full extent of her injuries; but this was probably due to ignorance on the part of the artillerymen in the batteries, who, unused to distinguis.h.i.+ng one s.h.i.+p from another, had failed to identify the _Nonsuch_ in the uncertain starlight, and had expended most of their ammunition upon their friends, with disastrous results to the latter, as subsequently appeared.

Meanwhile, the hostages, startled out of a light and troubled sleep upon the first alarm that the plate s.h.i.+ps were attempting to escape, had sat huddled together in the great state cabin throughout the succeeding hour and a half, quaking at every command which reached their ears from the deck above, quaking still more when the firing began, roundly denouncing and execrating the criminal folly of those, whoever they might be, who were responsible for this fresh breach of faith, and anxiously debating the question as to whether the young English Captain would hang the whole of them in reprisal, or whether he would spare a certain number, and if so, how many, and who. The alcalde had not returned to the s.h.i.+p after leaving her in company with the Captain and his armed guard on the previous day, having parted with George outside the Government building when the Englishmen set out to visit the Inquisition, which circ.u.mstance had been duly communicated to the hostages by Saint Leger upon his return; and some of his fellow townsmen now manifested a disposition to lay the blame for the affair upon his shoulders; the majority, however, were of the contrary opinion, and it was this opinion upon which they grounded the hope which ultimately arose that some of them at least might be spared. For, they argued, if he were not guilty, he would take immediate steps to discover who was, and having found the guilty party, would cause his prompt arrest, after which they might hope for his return to the s.h.i.+p to surrender the guilty one. But everything was most horribly uncertain; and the more they debated the matter the worse complexion did it a.s.sume; so that by the time that the s.h.i.+p was back at the anchorage and the anchor let go, they were all in a most pitiable state of distress and fright. And this state was in nowise relieved when, as day was on the point of breaking, George entered the cabin, and they noted the stern, set expression of his features.

He gazed slowly round at the quaking company for some moments in silence, and then said:

"Well, senores, you were yesterday convinced of the ability of your countrymen to keep faith with an honourable enemy, or I suppose you would not have consented to guarantee their fidelity with your lives.

What think you of them now?"

"Ah, n.o.ble senor," exclaimed one of them--a certain Don Martin de Sylva--"be merciful, I pray you, and do not hastily wreak upon us, who are innocent, the vengeance so justly provoked by the act of another.

This is not the treachery of a whole community, senor, believe me, but is the deed of some mad zealot--and, by all the Saints! I believe I can name him, too," he suddenly broke out, wheeling eagerly round upon his fellow hostages and excitedly addressing them. "What say you, senores; does not the whole complexion of this unforgivable outrage point your suspicions almost irresistibly toward one particular man? Are we to believe that our worthy alcalde is capable of imperilling the lives of his fellow townsmen, as ours have been imperilled this night, by an act of such base, wanton betrayal as all this amounts to? I say no, most emphatically; for, apart from every other consideration, what would he gain by it? No; this is the deed of a man anxious to curry favour at any cost with the Viceroy--who, we know, hates the English, and justly fears them, too, after his atrocious act of last year; and what man so anxious to win favour in that direction as--I say it with deliberation, senores--Don Manuel Rebiera, the acting Commandant of the military forces? That, in my humble opinion, n.o.ble Capitan, is the man whom we have to thank for this latest outrage; and I think--nay, I _hope_-- that--Heavens! I wonder whether the alcalde will have the courage--or, rather, the _power_--to arrest him, Don Manuel having the soldiery at his back."

"I had an interview with Don Manuel Rebiera, yesterday," remarked George; "and I feel bound to admit that I observed a certain something in his manner which to some extent justifies your suspicion of him. But whoever may be the person responsible for last night's--or, rather, this morning's--proceedings, I most fervently hope, for your sakes, senores, that he will be speedily found and delivered into my hands; for I tell you that somebody will have to pay very dearly indeed for them. I shall do nothing rashly or hastily, senores--you may rea.s.sure yourselves upon that point--but an act of basest, foulest treachery has been perpetrated, and retribution must follow. If you can in any way, whether by suggestion or otherwise, a.s.sist me to lay my hands upon the culprit, or culprits, I strongly advise you to do so, for your own sakes; for, failing the actual guilty parties, _you_, senores, are the persons who will have to pay the penalty." And, so saying, George pa.s.sed on and into his own cabin, leaving the hostages almost as profoundly perturbed as before.

Meanwhile, Ba.s.set, acting under Saint Leger's instructions, had caused a boat to be lowered and manned by a strong crew, fully armed, and in her had proceeded to board the plate s.h.i.+ps, one after the other, with the view of ascertaining who had been in command during the futile effort to take them to sea, also to arrest those persons, whoever they might be, and bring them aboard the _Nonsuch_. This task occupied fully two hours; so that it was drawing well on toward breakfast time when at length the boat returned, bringing with her seven men--the remainder having somehow contrived to effect their escape to the sh.o.r.e--who admitted having been in temporary command of the s.h.i.+ps during the night.

These men George questioned immediately upon their arrival; when the suspicion given expression to by one of the hostages an hour or two earlier, was fully confirmed; the prisoners a.s.serting that their written orders--which they produced in confirmation of their story--had been given them on the previous afternoon by Don Manuel Rebiera, the acting Military Commandant of the town and the representative of the Spanish Government; those orders being to get the s.h.i.+ps under way at a certain hour, with the twofold object of escaping to sea, if possible, and of enticing the English s.h.i.+p to follow them into the open, where she would be exposed to the fire of the batteries, when it was hoped that she would be destroyed, and the remnant of her crew captured. Upon receiving this information George at once sat down and wrote a letter to the alcalde, informing him of what had transpired, and demanding the immediate arrest and surrender of the acting Commandant, the penalty for non-compliance with the command before noon, being the bombardment and sack of the town. This letter he entrusted to one of the hostages-- chosen by lot--who forthwith left the s.h.i.+p in a sh.o.r.e boat which had been called alongside, promising that he would leave no stone unturned to secure submission to the English Captain's demands. Then all hands went to breakfast.

Meanwhile, with the strengthening of daylight it was discovered that the _Nonsuch_, upon returning to the roadstead after her pursuit of the plate s.h.i.+ps, had brought up so close to the spot where she had slipped her buoyed anchor, that the cable could be recovered by the simple process of running out a warp to it; and this was therefore the first job undertaken when breakfast was over, the second anchor being at the same time weighed and secured; after which there was nothing to be done but to wait until noon--or the arrival of a reply from the alcalde.

It was, however, not necessary to wait for noon; for about half-past ten o'clock a boat was seen approaching the _Nonsuch_ from the sh.o.r.e; and when she presently drew near enough to permit recognition of the faces of those in her it was seen that the alcalde was her solitary pa.s.senger; and very shortly afterwards she ranged up alongside the English s.h.i.+p, and Don Juan Alvarez climbed the side ladder in an evident state of profound trepidation. He brought momentous news, to the effect that it had indeed been Don Manuel Rebiera who had taken upon himself to arrange the whole affair of the preceding night; and that when at daylight he had discovered how completely his scheme for the destruction of the English s.h.i.+p had failed--and had also realised, it is to be presumed, all that his failure involved, the terrible retribution that the English would be certain to exact, and the whole responsibility for which must rest upon his shoulders--the unhappy man had retired to his private office in the Government building, and, after writing and signing a doc.u.ment acknowledging himself to be the sole culprit, had shot himself through the head. To this piece of news the alcalde added the further information that the soldiers, some eight hundred in number, infuriated at the suicide of their chief, and the terrible affair of the previous day at the Inquisition, for both of which occurrences they held the English equally responsible, were practically in a state of mutiny, and were parading the streets, fully armed, loudly announcing their intention to kill any Englishman who dared to leave the shelter of his s.h.i.+p and venture ash.o.r.e. Further, it appeared that the citizens, about equally alarmed at the violence of feeling displayed by the soldiers, and the fear that the town would be bombarded in reprisal for the outrage perpetrated by Don Manuel, had taken refuge in the cathedral and the various churches, where, under the leaders.h.i.+p of the priests, they were offering up especial prayers for protection and deliverance.

"Very well, senor alcalde," said George, when that official had completed his report; "you have made the state of affairs ash.o.r.e sufficiently clear for all practical purposes. Now, touching the matter of the indemnity which I have demanded, what has been done with regard to that?"

"Nothing--definite--so far--I regret to say," answered the alcalde, haltingly. "Of course," he continued, "I have discussed the matter with Don Manuel Rebiera, the late acting Commandant; but I found him exceedingly difficult and untractable to deal with. When I first broached the subject to him, I regret to say that he immediately fell into a most violent rage, and declared, with quite unnecessary vigour, that he would have nothing whatever to do with the payment of any indemnity, however small; and when I pointed out to him that the lives of twelve of our most important and valued citizens hung in the balance, and might very possibly be sacrificed unless he displayed a very much larger measure of pliability--well--I will not offend your ears, most ill.u.s.trious Capitan, by repeating his exact words, but I may tell you they were to the effect that he would rather every hostage were hanged, and the town itself laid in ruins, than suffer the humiliation of being compelled to pay an indemnity for an action which he, personally, regarded as perfectly righteous and justifiable. On the whole, senor, I am inclined to think that it is just as well for all concerned that Don Manuel is dead; for I am convinced that, had he continued to live, he would have proved an insuperable bar to every kind of negotiation, and, quite possibly, have precipitated a further catastrophe. For he was a Government official, and was possessed, in a very marked degree, of all the arrogance, the tyrannical, overbearing manner, the blind, intolerable pride, and the immeasurable contempt for everybody and everything not official, that so strongly characterises the representatives of Government in these territories. Yet, on the other hand, his death places me in a dilemma from which I can see no way of extricating myself; for the Commandant is so ill that it is impossible for me to discuss business with him; I dare not act upon my sole, unsupported authority; and if I have understood you aright, _ill.u.s.trissimo_, you will not give the time necessary to communicate with the Viceroy. So what am I to do?"

"I quite recognise the difficulty of your position, Don Juan," answered George; "and perhaps the simplest way will be for us to act entirely upon our own initiative, and so relieve you of all responsibility in the matter. Therefore, if you will kindly excuse me, I will leave you for a little while, and will discuss the situation with my officers. And while I am absent, you will have an opportunity to talk matters over with these worthy gentlemen, your fellow-citizens, who are in the unfortunate position of being hostages for a good faith that has been wantonly broken. Perhaps when I return you may find yourselves able to make a proposal, or at least offer a suggestion."

Having said which, the young Englishman bowed to his involuntary guests, and went out on deck, where he invited Ba.s.set and Heard to accompany him to the p.o.o.p for the purposes of a consultation. That same consultation proved to be but a very brief affair; for George opened it by clearly explaining to his fellow adventurers the distinctive features of the situation, as it then existed, and giving his own views as to the manner in which it might best be met; whereupon his companions at once agreed to his suggested course of procedure, daring though this was, and the conference, if such it might be called, broke up, having lasted less than a quarter of an hour. Then, while Ba.s.set and the purser resumed the duties upon which they had previously been engaged, Saint Leger returned to the state cabin to announce to the anxious alcalde and his companions the decision which had been arrived at.

"Well, senores," he remarked cheerfully, glancing round at the expectant faces so eagerly raised to his, as he entered the cabin, "I have discussed with my officers the difficulty which confronts us all, and we have resolved upon a course of action which I trust will be acceptable to you. We have come to the conclusion that it is not the inhabitants of San Juan who are responsible for the occurrences of last night; and therefore it would be unjust for us to punish them, through you, for what happened. Therefore if nothing further of an untoward character occurs during the stay of the _Nonsuch_ in your harbour, your own lives are safe, and your town will be spared by us--." Here a sigh of profound relief floated round the cabin, accompanied by a little stir as the hostages' tense att.i.tudes relaxed and they settled themselves into more comfortable positions. "But," continued George, "the fact remains that a daring and treacherous attempt to effect our destruction was made last night, as of course you are all fully aware; and that attempt must be very severely punished, and ample compensation exacted.

"Now, it is perfectly clear, from what your respected alcalde has told us, that the outrage--for I can call it nothing less--was instigated by, and carried out under the direction of, an official representative of the Spanish Government; therefore, since that official has placed himself beyond the reach of punishment, the Government of which he was a representative, and on behalf of which we are to a.s.sume he acted, must pay the penalty. Fortunately for you and us, who are the parties most intimately concerned, the means whereby your Government can be most severely punished, and an ample penalty paid, lie close to hand, in the plate s.h.i.+ps at present in your harbour; and it is our intention to avail ourselves of that circ.u.mstance by confiscating the whole of the treasure now on board them; and I have accordingly issued orders that they are to be brought alongside this s.h.i.+p, one after another, and the treasure removed with all expedition from their strong rooms to our own. In this way your Government will be the only loser, your own lives and property will be spared; and we trust that the plan will consequently commend itself to you. The only feature of the plan which may perhaps be distasteful to any of you is that I shall feel myself compelled to keep Don Juan Alvarez, your worthy alcalde, as well as yourselves, a prisoner until the transfer has been effected; and I do this solely because he happens to be the only person among you who wields any authority, and it may possibly be necessary for him to exercise that authority from time to time, in order to restrain the crews of the various s.h.i.+ps from causing trouble. Now, senores, what think you of my plan?"

For a few moments dead silence reigned in the cabin, the fact being that the Dons were literally smitten speechless by the paralysing enormity of the proposed insult and injury to the dignity of that Government which, in their eyes, was only a shade less sacred than the Church, and their first emotion was one of overwhelming indignation against those whose colossal insolence and audacity rendered them capable of such an overwhelmingly humiliating proposal. But the offence to their national pride was quickly swamped by considerations of their own personal safety, and as one man they soon came to the conclusion that anything-- yes, _anything_, even the humiliation of their king, was better than the sacrifice of their own lives and the destruction of their own property which would be involved in a retaliatory bombardment and sack of the town. If the Government chose to leave San Juan de Ulua in so defenceless a condition as to render such an outrage possible, then let Government suffer the humiliation and the loss! Such were, in substance, the dominant thoughts in the minds of the alcalde and his fellow prisoners; and at length, perceiving that none of the others were willing to speak, one, Don Martin de Sylva, the oldest as well as the most prominent and important of the hostages, rose to his feet and said, slowly and impressively:

"Senor Capitan, you have asked for our opinion of your most astounding proposal; and I will give you mine, which I put forward as my own exclusively, and which I do not pretend to advance as in the slightest degree representative of those of my companions. In the first place, I must be permitted to remind you that, although one of the avowed purposes of your visit to our city is to avenge and exact compensation for an attack upon your countrymen in our harbour, last year, which we all deplore and deprecate, you have as yet offered us no proof of your authority for such action, which, for all that we know, may have been taken actually without the knowledge of those who are legitimately ent.i.tled to regard themselves as the injured parties; therefore I think you must acknowledge that it is not surprising if we and our Government have been slow to recognise your claims. You may have been duly accredited by Her Majesty the Queen of England to exact the reparation which you demand; but, if so, I think you ought to have submitted your credentials when you made your claim, and that claim, I venture to suggest, should have been made in proper diplomatic form, instead of being, as it was, a mere threat. But if you hold no credentials from Her Majesty, and your authority is self-imposed, the conduct of which I complain is quite comprehensible, and although it may be in the highest degree irregular I am prepared to admit that it is not altogether unjustifiable, since I understand that your own brother was, and indeed still is, a sufferer from the attack upon Admiral Hawkins' fleet. Your claim on his behalf I am willing to admit is not outrageously unreasonable, and I deeply regret that it was not immediately _met_ and promptly discharged. The most unfortunate feature of the whole affair is of course the action which that misguided and over-zealous fool, Rebiera, took during the early hours of this morning. That action completely disarms us and perhaps--I only say _perhaps_--justifies you, in a measure, in the stupendous demand which you are now making. For my own part, I have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that, as reparation only, your demands are excessive and far beyond all reasonable bounds. But if they are intended--as I gather they are--to be regarded also as a wholesome chastis.e.m.e.nt of our Government for an act of treachery on the part of one of its officials, then I have nothing further to say. You have the power to exact what terms you please, and if you choose to exercise that power, we have not the means to prevent you. For myself, all I can say is that I am very grateful to you that you have been so fair-minded as to admit the innocence of myself and my fellow hostages in connection with an affair over which we have had no control, yet for which you might, had you so chosen, have exacted our lives as a penalty." Having thus delivered himself, the old Don bowed gravely and resumed his seat.

"Thank you, Don Martin," answered George, good-humouredly. "I asked for an opinion, and you have given me yours, frankly and fearlessly; and I imagine, from the expression of approval which I seem to read upon your compatriots' faces, that their opinion coincides with your own pretty closely. Well, be it so; naturally, you and I regard this whole matter from two very different points of view. Now, what says your worthy alcalde? Is he willing to exercise his authority over the crews of the s.h.i.+ps, if necessary, in order to avert further trouble and complications?"

The alcalde rose to his feet and bowing, with the native grace of the high-bred Spaniard, to George, replied:

"a.s.suredly I will, senor; for the power is in your hands, and you can enforce obedience if you see fit. And anything will be preferable to the useless slaughter which I foresee would inevitably result from ineffective and ill-advised action on the part of our mariners. To avoid that deplorable waste of life, therefore, I am prepared to intervene, should the necessity unhappily arise. At the same time, senor, I feel it due to myself to join my protest to that of my friend, Don Martin de Sylva, and, I think I may add, the rest of us here present, against what I cannot avoid regarding as the tremendously excessive penalty which you are about to impose in retaliation for the ill-judged action of one man, who has already paid with his life for his mistake." And therewith Don Juan resumed his seat, to the accompaniment of approving murmurs from his companions.

"Very well, then," said George, composedly; "that matter is also settled. And now, senor, I think it will be advisable that you should accompany me out on deck, and hold yourself ready to act, if required; for, from the sounds which reach me, it would seem that the first of your s.h.i.+ps is being hauled alongside; and your intervention may therefore be needed at any moment."

As it happened, however, no intervention on the part of the alcalde was required; possibly his presence on the p.o.o.p of the _Nonsuch_ beside George, where he could be distinctly seen by everybody, may have exercised a wholesome restraint upon the Spanish crew; or the sight of the entire crew of the English s.h.i.+p, mustered on deck, armed to the teeth, the gunners standing by their ordnance with lighted matches, may have had something to do with it; be that as it may, the Spanish seamen offered no resistance when it became apparent that the English were about to transfer the treasure from the plate s.h.i.+ps' strong rooms to their own; nay more, they even a.s.sisted in the transfer, when commanded to do so, although it must be confessed that they worked with sullen countenances, and many muttered threats and grumblings.

There were twelve plate s.h.i.+ps in the harbour, of which number ten were fully loaded; but when it came to inspecting the strong rooms of these s.h.i.+ps it was found that all twelve of them had received their full complement of treasure, consisting of silver bars, gold bricks--each separately sewn up in its casing of hide, as transported from the mines--and one large chest of pearls, the proceeds of the whole previous year's fis.h.i.+ng in the adjacent waters. The gold and silver also represented a whole year's produce of the mines; and so enormous was the quant.i.ty of the precious metals that its transfer to the _Nonsuch_ occupied six entire days; while, when at length the task was completed, the _Nonsuch_, stout s.h.i.+p as she was, floated the deeper by a good five strakes!

The work was completed on a certain day, about an hour after sunset; and at the very urgent request of the alcalde and his friends the hostages, George arranged to leave the port forthwith; for although no actual demonstration had been made against the s.h.i.+p, news had come off from the sh.o.r.e, from time to time, to the effect that the whole town was seething with indignation at the sight of such an enormous amount of treasure being seized by the hated English, while the soldiery were going about the streets breathing fire and slaughter and doing their utmost to incite the town folk to unite with them in a determined effort to recapture the treasure and annihilate the English pirates; while, as the time went on, it became perfectly evident that only the fear of bombardment restrained the civilians from entertaining the proposal; and, even so, the alcalde was in a perfect agony of fear lest, despite all the efforts of his friends ash.o.r.e, some rash act on the part of the soldiery and the rougher element among the civilians, should yet precipitate a catastrophe. Therefore, no sooner was the last gold brick transferred than the alcalde and his fellow prisoners overwhelmed George with most urgent solicitations that, having now accomplished all he had planned, he would proceed to sea forthwith; which, there being no reason to the contrary, the young captain willingly consented to do.

Accordingly, the canvas was loosed, the anchor hove up to the bows; and, the alcalde and his friends having been transferred to the s.h.i.+p alongside, the fasts were cast off, the topsails sheeted home, and under the impulse of a gentle off-sh.o.r.e breeze the _Nonsuch_ stood out of the harbour of San Juan de Ulua, after a sojourn of a full week pregnant with events of great and far-reaching importance. It afterwards transpired that the English had only got away from the port by the bare skin of their teeth; for within twenty-four hours of their departure the belated convoy arrived with the plate s.h.i.+ps from Cartagena and Nombre de Dios; and when the Spanish Admiral was made acquainted with the details of George's daring raid--which was within an hour of his arrival--he was so convulsed with rage that in the height of his pa.s.sion he ordered the entire convoy to weigh and put to sea again--leaving the newly-arrived plate s.h.i.+ps to take care of themselves and their precious cargoes as best they might--with instructions to the captains that they were on no account to return without the English s.h.i.+p. The result of this mad order was that the convoy was absent for three full weeks, during which George, had he only known it, might have returned and filled the _Nonsuch_ with treasure until she would hold no more. But while the Spanish captains were straining their s.h.i.+ps to pieces by thres.h.i.+ng to the northward under a heavy press of sail, under the conviction that the English were homeward bound and were heading north to avail themselves of the a.s.sistance of the Gulf Stream, the heavily-laden _Nonsuch_ was steadily working to windward across the Gulf of Campeche, making for the northern coast of Yucatan, on her way back to the little desert island off the southern coast of Jamaica, where the adventurers had buried their first haul of treasure.

For now that the _Nonsuch_ was loaded down with so fabulously rich a freight, the first consideration of its new owners was to temporarily deposit it in some place of safety while they pursued their quest of the missing Hubert Saint Leger, lest haply misfortune should befall them and, losing their s.h.i.+p, they should lose their treasure also. And now it was that George had his eyes opened, for the first time, to one at least of the disadvantages of so stupendous a stroke of good fortune as had been his and his companions'. For their haul of treasure had been so enormous that the men had got tired of handling it before its transfer had been completed; nay more, they were actually _satisfied_ with the amount of their wealth; and when George first announced his intention of burying it with the rest, prior to pursuing his search for his lost brother, there were those among his crew who loudly protested that they were now rich enough to return at once to England with what they had; that it would simply be a tempting of Providence to pursue the adventure further, and that, for their part, they had had quite enough of the Indies. But Saint Leger speedily quelled these murmurs by mustering the crew and reading to them the Articles of Agreement which all had signed, and which clearly set forth the objects with which the voyage had been undertaken, among which was distinctly specified the finding and deliverance of Mr Hubert Saint Leger. And having read these Articles, George proceeded to inform the crew of his determination to hold all hands to their bargain, reminded them of the pains and penalties provided by way of punishment for breaches, or even attempted breaches, of any Article of the covenant, and wound up by declaring that, rather than abandon his search for his brother, he would maroon the malcontents and leave them to find their way back home as best they could. And, as the malcontents proved after all to be but a small proportion of the crew, this threat quietened them, at least for the time being, and no further murmurs were heard.